First Look: Regina King Directs Southland

Southland's Regina King worked a double shift for the TNT drama's March 13 show, starring as Det. Lydia Adams and directing the episode. "Let's just say I didn't get much sleep," she says. It's not the first time King has yelled "Action!" (she shot the movie Let the Church Say Amen, which will air on BET later this year), but it is her first time helming Southland.

The episode reconnects Detective Adams with a man she sent to death row, while Sammy (Shawn Hatosy) grapples with being a tabloid sensation and Dewey (C. Thomas Howell) gets into some serious danger. "Everyone was really supportive," King says of her costars. "Both Shawn Hatosy and Michael Cudlitz stayed after they wrapped and watched me shoot scenes they weren't in. That really meant a lot to me."